Depending on how the winter season goes, February can be a warm, dry month like it was in 2012, or a cold, snowy month apparently like it was this year. Thanks to the Blizzard of 2013, the monthly data for MacArthur Airport proves the latter.
Monthly data is based on long-term average temperature. When calculating, you add up every high and low temperature, divide that by the number of days in the month, and then by half. Essentially it's the average temperature of every day. For February 2013, the average temperature at MacArthur Airport was 32.1 degrees, just 0.7 degrees below normal. This means February was near or slightly colder than normal. The highest was 49 late in the month, and as low as 11 degrees. It was a big difference from last year, when the 50s and 60s were common and the average temperature was over six degrees above normal.
Precipitation was the key stat for February at Islip. Total precip was 5.91" which was just short of the most February precip on record at MacArthur Airport. This is a "liquid equivalent," combining rain and melted snow and ice. Last month's total was nearly three inches above normal. Most of this total can be attributed to the blizzard on February 8, when 2-3 feet of snow fell in parts of Suffolk County. The total of 31.4" of snow for the month was a record, as well. February of 2012 only saw an anemic 0.6" inches of snow.
The winter numbers are out, since meteorological winter ended February 28. While snowfall can be more "seasonal" rather than confined to three months, this winter's totals doubled the normal at around 35 inches with the post-Sandy nor'easter not counted. The average temperature was over two degrees above normal.
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